This invention relates to apparatus for performing mechanical operations such as piercing, punching and forming on a workpiece and more particularly to an improved apparatus of this type capable of performing a plurality of mechanical operations on a workpiece.
Mechanical operations such as piercing, punching, and shape forming are common to many industrial fabrication processes. Typically each operation is performed by a separate apparatus. Whereas the use of a separate apparatus to perform each operation is satisfactory in the sense that a separate apparatus may be designed and dedicated to a specific function so as to efficiently carry out that particular function, the use of a separate apparatus to perform each function is time consuming and requires extensive capital investment. Whereas many forms of apparatus have been provided for carrying out more than one operation on a workpiece, these prior art multiple function apparatuses have been generally clumsy and expensive and have generally optimized the performance of one work operation at the expense of the other operation or operations.